Pennsylvania Testing Irregularity Probe Continues

The Huffington Post (8/17, Resmovits) reports on the continuing investigation into irregularities on Pennsylvania standardized tests in 2009, noting that "On Monday, the state reported that it had received 83 percent of districts' internal probes into schools suspected of cheating. The Pennsylvania Department of Education is now conducting its own analysis of the data and earlier forensic reviews to assess which schools had teachers who were cheating." The piece notes that the state mandated the district-level investigations after "the release of a report that flagged 90 Pennsylvania schools for testing irregularities -- whether by statistically suspicious score gains or a high number of answers erased from wrong to right -- on 2009 exams." The piece notes that Education Secretary Arne Duncan has taken an interest in investigating such cheating cases.